UFC reverses course on Thales Leites and Tamdan McCrory (Updated)

(NOTE: Despite this report, Tamdan McCrory and Thales Leites are not returning to the organization.

According to a new report from Kevin Iole, who penned this original story, White initially stated the two fighters would get a reprieve but ultimately decided to let them go after discussing the matter internally.

For more see the latest MMAjunkie.com report: “Despite reports Tamdan McCrory and Thales Leites, in fact, cut by the UFC.”)

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Thales Leites was stunned on Saturday when he heard that judges had come to a split decision in his fight with Alessio Sakara at UFC 101 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. He was even more stunned when he came out on the short end of the verdict.

But the really shocking news came on Thursday, when he learned he was being dropped by the Ultimate Fighting Championship only four months after competing for the middleweight title.

It turns out, though, that Leites still has a job with the UFC.

UFC president Dana White wasn’t aware of plans to drop both Leites and welterweight Tamdan McCrory and said he would reverse those decisions.

They won’t be cut, White said Thursday night.

Leites was 14-1 when he faced Anderson Silva for the middleweight title at UFC 97 in April in Montreal. But Leites was not aggressive, often flopping onto his back in an unsuccessful bid to lure Silva into a jiu-jitsu contest, and lost a unanimous decision in which the crowd booed lustily. He was more aggressive against Sakara, though the crowd in Philadelphia didn’t like the fight and booed very loudly.

McCrory entered the UFC with an 8-0 record, but has gone 3-3 since, alternating wins and losses. He dropped a close decision to John Howard on Saturday.

White said both men will be brought back to the UFC.

Kevin Iole is the national boxing/MMA writer for Yahoo! Sports. This story originally appeared on Yahoo! Sports and is syndicated on MMAjunkie.com as part of a content-partnership deal between the two sites.

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